itouchedthefire

I realized I never really introduced myself, so... Hi, I'm Di, but you can call me Didi!

I'm a big ass fangirl, and I love it. My fandoms include but are not limited to: BTS, Star Wars, Percy Jackson, Hunger Games, Mortal Instruments (all media types), Young Royals, One Direction and many, many musicals.

I've been writing for a long time (almost 18 years!) and fanfic is my FAVORITE. I currently have 4 WIPS - 2 wilmon, 1 obikin and 1 malec - and you can find me on AO3 on itouchedthefire ❤️

Also I'm getting my Bachelors in Biological Sciences so sometimes I'll just be freaking out over whale falls.

Also also I mostly use they/she pronouns, but as long as you don't call me late for dinner, you can call me anything ❤️

At some point, the Irina Foundation goes international, or maybe it's Scott and his scholarship people. Point is, Shane and Ilya and Scott are invited to talk on a event for queer youth in sport. In London.

Idk man I'm just imagining Nick Nelson in the crowd, his mum on one side, Charlie on the other, as Ilya talks about being bisexual in a high contact game and how people jump to invalidate his love for Shane bc yeah he likes girls but he's only ever been in love with his husband. And Scott talks about being terrified of people knowing, but getting to have Kip by his side makes it all worth it. And Shane talks about his struggles with internalized homophobia - how it still gets to him now, over 30 years old - and Nick. Nick is crying at the end of it.

Bc Charlie and his friends are great, but they're not into sports like he is. And these guys. They are at the top of their game. They are hockey. And they are queer. And yeah, he knows it's not mutually exclusive, but knowing and seeing are different things.

Anyway, one day Shane complains about a repeated offender in the media scrum, a reporter from a gossip blog that keeps barraging him with stupid questions about their personal - mainly sex - life, and Ilya very formally allows him to use his signature move of Pretending Not To Understand The Question. Shane is confused, bc while he likes the idea, the guy most likely knows french too and would repeat the question in his second language. Ilya just sighs and kisses him.

"But would he know Japanese?"

He's absolutely terrified because he's seen this before, the far-away, glazed-over eyes of a mind slipping like sand through his fingers. He has stood in front of it, trying to get any sliver of recognition, to fight the dying neurons with the best pills money could buy. His father wasn't a good man, but he didn't deserve to have his essence erased like that.

Or or when Ilya moves to Ottawa he gets in the locker room just to find it basically overflowing with his favorite pre-game snacks and the only thing the staff can tell him is that "is from Jane?" And the day after his first game there's bluebells in there and chamomile for his mother's birthday and more tulips for his birthday, and forget-me-nots for their anniversary. To the point that the guys chirp him to hell and back for his Jane always gifting him flowers.

He mentions thinking about getting his ears pierced and like clockwork Shane is buying him the prettiest blue earrings "to match your eyes". He eyes the new collection of Rolex and next thing he knows it's in his closet. He tears up over blood having dried on his mother's necklace and the next day Shane is suddenly a specialist in jewelry cleaning.

One day, Shane posts a picture of a baby - small, dressed in a plain white onesie with hockey sticks, dark hair, scrunched up on his chest, no face to be seen. "Hello from parenthood bliss!", the caption says. Hockey twitter loses it.

Then, a month later, Ilya posts a photo of a baby, wearing a brown knit sweater and holding a bunny plushie. The photo cuts right under the baby's nose, only a few strands of dark hair can be seen. The caption says "my soul, my heart, my bunny" in Russian. His photo breaks containment - much to his amusement and Shane's annoyance - because people can't seem to grasp that Russia's Greatest Love Machine did indeed settle down.

They keep doing it, posting photos of their kid every now and then, never showing their face or giving them a name other than bunny (Ilya), bun (Shane) or little loon (David did it first, Shane insists on keeping it). The hollanov truthers are split down the middle whether a) that's the same baby or b) there are two babies, but they're twins. The shaydens call all the children fake.

It's the world's worst kept secret, but it takes three years and a woman fully going to court against Ilya - allegedly, for parental alienation - for the guys to come out, 5 years into their marriage with a three-year old and a second baby in the way.